Economists call President Joe Biden’s 100-day economy an outlier, like no other in modern history, and it's all because of the pandemic.
The best economic course, says Nova Southeastern University Economics Professor Albert Williams, is slow and steady.
“Deal with COVID, deal with the economy. And doing both at the same time, that’s a good thing,” he said.
Many experts agree America’s rebounding economy has much to do with former President Donald Trump’s and Biden’s combined multi-trillion dollar stimulus packages.
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“The other government was doing its share and it put in some work, and it was working at different levels and different intensities,” said Williams.“But all that injection is the injection of funds and so the other leadership team does the same, then you get two of them kind of working together even if that wasn’t planned.”
For small businesses, it’s been quite a ride. Some did not make it through the Covid shutdown. Others took advantage of the economic climate and expanded.
“People are starting to feel a little more relaxed and safe,” said Paul Kruss, co-owner of Mo’s Bagels and Deli in Aventura.
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He admits he took a chance in opening at the old Sage Deli space on Hallandale Beach Boulevard during the pandemic. He said he appreciates the governor and local politicians for their approach to doing business during COVID.
The federal government, in one aspect he says, hasn’t really helped.
“The unemployment benefits are so high that between the federal ones and the state ones, it is causing us to have a problem in the industry, in the whole industry, in hiring much-needed people,” he said.
NBC 6 Political Analyst Carlos Curbelo calls the first hundred days of a presidency symbolic and important.
“This is used as an opportunity to pause, look back and figure out if administrations, new congresses, are on the right track, what have they gotten accomplished in these 100 days,” said Curbelo.
Professor Williams says his best explainer on the economy is to look at America’s Gross Domestic Product for 2020.
It crashed 33 percent in the second quarter, then bounced up about the same rate in quarter three. An approximate, astounding, 66 percent swing in six months.
Fast forward to today’s economic climate, Williams says stimulus money continues to make a difference.
“I think some of the pressure from people‘s pockets has been reduced. Imagine a family of four ... we're talking somewhere around $5,600, that’s a lot of money,” said Williams. “But the question is, has somebody ever measured the impact of that so far? That will come further down the road."
